We had barely half an hour to change out of our wedding attire and climb into something comfortable. We got the car for the day and gonna head out to do some sightseeing. This was when we were introduced to the 70 continuous hairpin bends leading up Kolli Malai.
The drive to the base of the mountain took us about 1 hour through colourful, populated towns and vast fields. Upon reaching the beginning of the journey through the hairpin bends, the driver cracked down the windows and we got to enjoy the warm winds that blissfully got a little cooler the further we went.
Photo credits: Sankara Subramaniam
The bends were called hairpin bends because that was exactly what they looked like. The bends were sharp and numerous (70 to be exact) and they were close together. The blue bricks stating how many more bends to go were almost mocking the drivers. Plus our car had to compete with large trucks and buses that went round the bends at breakneck speeds, we encountered many close shaves avoiding head on collisions with them. I hate driving next to large trucks in Singapore, I definitely will NOT attempt driving in India for the sake of my sanity.. and everyone’s lives.
Sitting in between two guys who could sleep just about anywhere hadn’t helped as well. It was like playing pinball at the back when the driver navigated through a bend and both Joseph and Ummar would squash poor me who couldn’t sleep throughout the journey up.
The views of the plains below, when stopping at some points of the bends, were magnificent. The area was still mostly underdeveloped hence lodging and eating establishments were scarce and besides the huge Akasaganga waterfalls we saw from a lookout point (going down to the falls required a hike none of us were equipped for), there were not many attractions. Still, we visited a miniature falls and the boys did some cooling off there and I had to suppress the urge to climb that little hill where the locals were sliding from. My guilty pleasure: the insurmountable urge to climb things that posed a challenge.
Later, Arafath and Azar introduced us to onion Bondas. They were delightful deep fried morsels of flour, curry leaves and spices, similar to the cucur we Malays are used to. Strangely, the more we ate, the more spicy they became. But they were great, and cheap too.
Arafath asked if we were game for having lunch in the fields. Being city kids, of course we’ve never had lunch in the fields surrounded by cows. We stopped by a town to get packets of egg rice, Pappad and were introduced to Thums Up, the Indian version of Coca Cola. This Arafath doesn’t drink Coke, but he drinks Thums Up… it’s something we all had to try. Nothing special about it, just extra gassy but it did quench our thirst. While waiting for the food, we sat around and enjoyed some chips and I managed to impress the Indians, Arafath especially, when I knew the words to the Indian National Anthem. ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED!
Lunch was by a beautiful rice field and we sat on the grass enjoying the peace and tranquility of the village side. Having born and brought up in the city, I never got to experience living in a quiet village where we could run free and do whatever we wanted. The only times I sat on the grass to eat was when we went for picnics or in the middle of a hike when I was in Guides. Those were good times.
Alas, we couldn’t spend more time in the countryside as Azar, Arafath, Ummar and Joseph were heading to Chennai that very night. After lunch we were driven back to the hotel where we took a nice long shower and had some sleep… not. Sushan and I crashed the room shared between Arafath, Azar and Puneet and there we figured out our next plan… or at least try to.
It was a maddening affair; there were so many choices but there were always missing factors in whatever plans we considered.
1. Chennai Express train to Pondicherry: The train frequency is once a week and it leaves that very night.
2. Overnight bus from Namakkal to Pondicherry: Seats on the non-AC buses were selling out like hot potatoes. Plus there were only two seats available in the AC bus and there were three of us. Arriving in Pondicherry at the butt crack of dawn? Not an option.
3. Hiring a car to Pondicherry: That will pick us up from Namakkal, bring us to Trichy for sightseeing before taking us to Pondicherry. Perfect? The cost was pretty steep, though.
4. Ummar’s constant bugging in the background: COME TO CHENNAI WITH US LAH.
Nope. Not an option. I mean we have to get to Chennai in one way or another, but Sushan and I had our hearts set on Pondicherry. Puneet was agreeable to that because he’s never been there, so Pondicherry was where we were going to spend our Saturday night at. But of course, what trip planning could go without a hitch eh? The infamous question that was thrown around every 15 minutes or so…
“WAT’S D PLAN?”
We did have the plan, just whether we could stop being fickle about how to get there. While we were planning for the activities on Saturday, Ummar and I were busy settling our train tickets for the last leg of our journey.
The original plan was to go from Delhi to Udaipur and Jodhpur but we underestimated the time we had before our flight back home, so we had to shave down our plans. We could either take a 12-hour train to Udaipur, or complete the golden triangle route by heading to Jaipur instead. I wasn’t really keen on going to Jaipur to be honest. I would rather we go off the beaten track sort of, and explore the parts of Rajasthan that weren’t as touristy. I really did want to see the blue city in Jodhpur and be surrounded by water in Udaipur, but time was a luxury we both couldn’t afford. So Jaipur it is.
Manoj, well rested from the morning’s affair, gave Arafath a call and demanded that we visited his home that evening. That was when I realised that we’ve all come this far and didn’t think of visiting Manoj at the place he called home. Yikes. The boys had to go to the bus station, but we squeezed some time after dinner for Manoj’s place. It was a large complex with many rooms and he said that he’d built this family home with the money that he earned in Singapore. Good on you, my friend.
After which there was a mini Amazing Race where the boys almost, ALMOST missed their overnight bus to Chennai because we had been dropped off at the wrong bus station. But by the grace of God and Indian Standard Time, we managed to get them to the right pick up point and off they went to Chennai. Their AC bus looked incredibly comfortable, and according to them, there were even plugs to charge their phones and stuff.
Puneet, Sushan and I retreated back to the hotel after that, exhausted. We still weren’t clear about how to get to Pondicherry, but we’ve established that money wasn’t an issue if it was convenience we sought. I ended the discussion by saying that it has been a long, long day and we should get some rest. Puneet was expecting a call at 7 am to confirm the cost of hiring a car, and we should talk then.
Finally, after surviving a whole day of activities, chaos and lots and lots of chatter on just two hours of rest, we settled down and went to bed.
